What is brand affinity marketing?

Touchdown Marketing explains how to take advantage of the equity locked in brands and customer bases by working in partnership with a non-competitive brand that complements your own product.

In recent years, brand owners have realised that they can take advantage of some of the equity locked in their brands and customer bases by working in partnership with a non-competitive brand which complements and adds value to their own product or service.

We all know that traditional forms of advertising and sales promotion have become diluted by the proliferation of media and a consumer base that is increasingly marketing savvy.

Therefore, marketing professionals are constantly looking for new ways of increasing return on investment (ROI).

The proportion of marketing budgets devoted to affinity marketing grew from 13.9% in 2003 to 19.8% in 2006, and is expected to grow further to 26.2% by the end of 2007 (Lloyd James Group October 2005).

There are four main ways to work with other brands.

Brand Affinity - working with other brands to change perception and generate awareness for your brand; Partnership Marketing - tactical short term marketing initiatives, consisting of promotional or third party tie -ups; Affinity Marketing - Adding value to your brand via a complementary service from another brand e.g affinity credit cards; Affiliate Marketing - white labeling your product or service to others to sell for commissions such as Moneysupermarket, U Switch.

Touchdown has extensive experience in each of these categories.

In fact the company you keep says a lot about you so in a way it's all Brand Affinity and it's not rocket science.

Successful joint campaigns can open up new avenues of opportunity with minimum investment.

They can improve customer perceptions, re-kindle interest in your brand and promote loyalty.

But the right partnerships are not necessarily easy to come by.

So, while a DIY approach may seem easier, it's unlikely to pay dividends in the long run.

Brand Affinity Marketing is not just about setting up joint promotional campaigns.

It has the power to change perceptions and reactions to your brand.

Therefore, it's important to take a strategic rather than a tactical approach.

In many brand affinity relationships it could take up to six months just to establish that the two brands can work together effectively and successfully.

Consumers choose and combine brands on an ad hoc basis to create or reflect their own identity.

And the same principle applies when partnering with other brands, because the company we keep says so much about us.

But what makes a brand attractive to its customers might not be the same as what makes a brand attractive to another brand.

Instead of merely reacting to market opportunities or creative ideas, Brand Affinity Marketing is a disciplined method that allows marketers to create strategic long-term relationships with relevant brands by looking at the brand DNA.

"Touchdown has brought a robust methodology which is compatible with HP's segmentation model; brand symbiotics makes the science of selecting what brands we should be working with very simple," said Terry Raghunath, Program Manager, Consumer Marketing Hewlett Packard Europe.

The benefits of brand affinity marketing are tangible and immediate: marketing costs are shared, distribution channels are added, market entry is accelerated, brand awareness is increased and brand perceptions improved or even changed.

The statistics speak for themselves.

Working with other brands consistently delivers outstanding ROI, with an average of 5:1.

Brand Affinity Marketing - the benefits.

Increased brand awareness; high return on investment against low cost of sale; better customer perceptions and higher retention rates; operational efficiencies and benefits.

"In a competitive marketplace it is important to add value if you are going to attract new cardholders or retain existing cardholders; with the help of Touchdown we have launched successful ready-made promotional schemes for the benefit of banks and credit card companies across Europe," said Craig Browne, VP Marketing MasterCard.

Touchdown is a specialist Brand Affinity Marketing agency that brings brands together.

Our expertise in the field is second to none and we have become widely recognised as market leaders in this area of the marketing mix.

In the last two years we've seen our business double in size.

We now work with a prestigious portfolio of brands in sectors ranging from IT and consumer electronics to travel and leisure.

Clients include major names, such as MasterCard, HP Invent, The Independent, Fulham Football Club, United Airlines, Lindt International and the Global Fund.

We've made it really simple to work with other brands and can help you negotiate the Brand Affinity minefield to achieve a successful and productive partnership with the right brand.

We also have an affinity filter.

It's effectively a balanced scorecard system which matches compatible brands.

We analyse your brand's attributes and objectives to ally them those of a complementary, non-competitive brand.

The first step is to register free on BrandMine our unique Affinity Community www.touchdown-marketing.com/brandmine/register.php.

It contains hundreds of profiled brands interesting in forming partnerships.

Campaigns which Touchdown have managed have produced the following benefits for clients: shared marketing costs; changes in brand perception; highly targeted marketing to receptive audiences; sponsorship deals; sales promotion opportunities.

Here are some common mistakes made by new entrants in the Brand Affinity Marketing sector.

1) Assuming your consumer proposition is appropriate for other brand directors and managers - this is a very common mistake to make.

What makes your product or service attractive to your target audience is not the same proposition for another brand manager or director.

They will need to know why you have identified them, and what the benefit to their audience is.

Many brands fall at the first hurdle by not being properly prepared with a selling proposition that is relevant to this target audience.

They simply hope that their main consumer proposition can be adapted.

There is too much of an assumption that the other party will see the obvious benefits of working with you.

Be honest with your current offering to another brand.

List the benefits you bring and clearly state your vision for this relationship.

2) Not putting a value on what you are bringing to the table You wouldn't sell your house without having an idea as to what it's worth? It's amazing how often it happens when it comes to negotiating a brand partnership.

You need to develop a rate card of opportunity to allow you to negotiate from a position of strength.

What is your brand worth to the other (case histories, ROI can help define this)? What is the media value of any reciprocal marketing opportunities you are offering? Compare the anticipated results against what it would cost them to achieve the same objectives without the help of your brand.

It always pays to have a clear idea of what you are worth as this allows you to ask for contra offers against each benefit you bring.

3) Having no selection and rejection criteria in place.

How often are you approached by another brand to work with them? Or how often do you choose another brand to work with because you know somebody there, or it seems like a good idea? Having no selection criteria in place means you are committing in-house resource in the hope something works out.

No other marketing area is so fickle.

Likewise, how do you reject brands that approach you.

Is there a policy in place, do they complete an application form to work with you so you can assess objectively? What impression are you giving of your brand to others if you reject an approach without a proper policy in place? 4) Underestimating the amount of internal resource to allocate.

Working with another brand involves selection, negotiation, creation, maintenance/ monitoring and development.

Too often campaigns break down because each side underestimates the amount of time and resource involved when working with another brand.

At negotiation stage it's vital that you set out a clear agenda about what you want to achieve together and then both parties sign a service level agreement to that effect, especially if team members from both sides change job title or leave during the campaign.

By treating your brand partner in the same way you would treat a valued customer you can gain much more from the relationship.

Shared intelligence, additional initiatives will stem from an agreed review schedule.

As you can see if it's worth doing then it's worth doing properly.

5) Not involving your customers when selecting a brand to work with.

Most brands have invested millions in building awareness and perception.

All new products or initiatives are tested at research because the target audience's reaction is vital to the development of a brand.

So having invested this money why do some brands associate themselves with other brands, without involving the customer? The company we keep speaks volumes about us so it's essential that you involve your customers before committing to a potential brand partner.

6) Tactical relationships rather than strategic ones.

Before you embark on a Brand Affinity campaign you must agree the objectives and parameters for success.

Is it to increase sales, keep existing customers, increase awareness, change your brand's perception, access new distribution channels? Whatever combination you choose there must be a strategy behind your selection.

If you want to access new distribution channels because your closest competitor has a larger market share than you, then your strategy will address: popular brands with your target audience, channels that work, channels that you wish to test, channels from which you wish to isolate your competitors.

Every activity must support your overall business objectives.

Hence if you take this route you will realise that a tactical selection can be a waste of resource and could actually damage your brand.

Many Brand Affinity Marketing initiatives inevitably involve creative work.

And it's important that this reflects not only the professionalism and brand values of the participants, but also effectively communicates the partnership proposition.

At the same time, every campaign has to deliver a return on investment.

To offer a fully integrated service, Touchdown has created Brightstar, a full service creative resource, specialising in the communication of affinity campaigns.

Brightstar offers a comprehensive range of online and offline, above and below the line marketing communication services.

We have extensive experience in dealing with multi-brand campaigns, especially the sensitive areas of getting the right balance of exposure for each participating brand Creative Strategy Campaign management Market Research Media planning and buying Digital media marketing.

"Brand Affinity marketing has allowed The Independent to develop relationships with like-minded brands and deliver a variety of reciprocal marketing opportunities; this strategy offers us many possibilities to provide a strong point of difference to our readers through these associations and clear value to The Independent reader further developing our reputation as a challenging, stand-alone brand," said David Greene, Marketing Director The Independent.

In today's media flooded society, people and brands must adapt and communicate in more ways than ever before if they are to build awareness and impact on fragmented and distracted audiences.

24PR uses targeted communication - critical in this - to create and position understanding and win; hearts, minds and loyalty.

We map out the media and opinion former landscapes to plan the most effective way to generate awareness across mass and niche markets.

The 24PR toolkit provides an integrated resource to managing all aspects of effective PR and communications in house.

It also includes benchmarking, measurement and evaluation tools and services to be able to deliver a transparent return on client investment.

24PR will always clarify and align your communications objectives to meet your commercial objectives.

As part of the Touchdown Communications Group, 24PR supports and boosts Touchdown's Brand Affinity Marketing resource with a full portfolio of public relations services.

It's simple - you supply and we'll create understanding and demand.

24PR offers the following consultancy and services: integrated PR and brand communications; internal and external communications; research, planning, strategy and management; media and stakeholder mapping, planning and development; media and opinion former relations and management; direct communications including: IPTV, blogging, internet radio, user-generated content and social networking, viral marketing and e-PR; media and spokesperson/presentation training; reputation management and corporate communications; B2B and trade media relations; community relations, CSR and sustainable communications; issues and crisis management; copywriting and production; ghost writing and speech writing; event production and management; media tours, briefings and conferences; broadcast production and distribution; campaign measurement and evaluation; photography and creative services; Interim Service Cover.

Back to top